Princess Tatiana Desirée von Fürstenberg (''Tatiana Desirée Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg''; born February 16, 1971) is an American art curator, singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and filmmaker.
Early life and family
Von Fürstenberg was born on February 16, 1971, in New York City to fashion designers
Prince Egon von Fürstenberg and
Diane von Fürstenberg (née Halfin). On her mother's side she is of Jewish Moldovan, and Jewish Greek descent. On her father's side she is of German and Italian descent, and a member of the
House of Fürstenberg. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Tassilo zu Fürstenberg and
Clara Agnelli, the elder sister of Fiat's chairman,
Gianni Agnelli. She is the younger sister of
Prince Alexander von Fürstenberg.
Her parents divorced in 1972, although the family remained close, and she had a great relationship with both her maternal and paternal grandmothers,
Holocaust survivor Liliane Nahmias and Agnelli When she was six her mother released a perfume, ''Tatiana'', named after her. Her father remarried Lynn Marshall in 1983. Educated at
Cranborne Chase School, she went on to attend
Brown University and studied
modern culture and media,
comparative literature
Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...
, and education.
After graduating in 1991 she did graduate work in
applied psychology
Applied psychology is the use of psychological methods and findings of scientific psychology to solve practical problems of human and animal behavior and experience. Educational and organizational psychology, business management, law, health, pro ...
at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
.
Her mother remarried
Barry Diller in 2001. Tatiana is the aunt to
Talita von Fürstenberg, Tassilo von Fürstenberg, Leon von Fürstenberg, and Vito von Fürstenberg.
Career
In 1992, von Fürstenberg posed for
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
's erotic coffee table book ''
Sex'' and was in the video documentary on the making of the book. Later that year, she was featured alongside other celebrities from the book in the
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for Madonna's single ''
Erotica''. Also in 1992 von Fürstenberg made
cameo appearance
A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
s in the films ''
Light Sleeper'' and ''
Bram Stoker's Dracula''.
She was photographed by
Richard Avedon for the magazine ''Égoïste''.
Von Fürstenberg, with
Francesca Gregorini, co-wrote, co-directed, and produced the 2009 film ''
Tanner Hall'', which went on to have its world premiere as an official selection at the
2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature at the Gen Art Film Festival. Her voice was used for the character Poppet in the film.
In 2010 she wrote, directed, and produced the short film ''Tyrolean Riviera''.
The next year, von Fürstenberg directed a
short film
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
titled ''Journey of the Dress'', featuring
Tayane Leão and
Zhang Huan, for DvF's fall collection. In 2012 she played the character Pearl in the short film ''Tependris Rising''. The next year, she worked again with Gregorini to produce the drama thriller
indie film ''
The Truth About Emanuel''.
Von Fürstenberg is a songwriter and the lead singer of the band Playdate.
The band was founded in 1999 and is made up of von Fürstenberg, Andrew Bradfield, and Bryan Bullett. The trio met while students at Brown University. One of the band's songs, ''Moet & Chandon,'' was included on the soundtrack for ''
Tanner Hall''.
She worked at Steinberg and Sons, launching a west-coast branch for the New York-based company, providing independent designers with spaces to sell their work.
She has served as the co-curator at the Alleged Gallery in New York City and as a director for The Diller – von Furstenberg Family Foundation.
In 2016 von Fürstenberg collaborated with the U.S. grassroots organization
Black and Pink to create the art exhibit ''On The Inside'', highlighting the work of incarcerated LGBTQ artists who are at-risk in prison. The exhibit, directed and designed by her, brings awareness to the issues and dangers LGBTQ inmates face at a higher risk than non-LGBTQ inmates, including sexual and physical assault, as well as less emotional and financial support from families due to their sexuality or gender identity. The exhibit was on display at the
Abrons Arts Center. Von Fürstenberg incorporated an interactive element into the show where viewers can text the incarcerated artists, through a special service, to give feedback and set up long term
pen-pal relationships.
Personal life
In 2000 von Fürstenberg, who was dating actor and writer Russell Steinberg, gave birth to their daughter Antonia. They married two years later and divorced in 2014.
In 2010, von Fürstenberg had an editing studio built in her
Los Feliz home. She also owns
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...
's former home in
Provincetown.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furstenberg, Tatiana Von
1971 births
Living people
Singers from New York City
American film actresses
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American people of Belgian-Jewish descent
American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent
American people of Greek-Jewish descent
American socialites
American women film producers
American women philanthropists
American women singer-songwriters
Agnelli family
Tatiana
People educated at Cranborne Chase School
Brown University alumni
Philanthropists from New York City
21st-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American women singers
Jewish American actresses
People from Los Feliz, Los Angeles
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)